And another year has passed

...since my last blog post. Clearly I am not good at this blogging thing. That said, life is still good and busy so let's move on to the yarn now.

Woodstock

I will be a vendor again at Art in the Park again this summer. I have some new colors to offer this year as well as stitch markers, a few hand knit items, and possibly some woven scarves. 

The Flying Shoe

This green is my new favorite color to dye. I had quite the time trying to figure out a name for it. After sitting and staring at it for a while and running through possibilities I went down a rabbit hole. At some point I decided it reminded me of a dill pickle. Who wants to buy a yarn color called dill pickle? From there I went to "In a Pickle" which I thought wasn't horrible but I still was not incredibly fond of it. All of the "pickle" thoughts spurred a memory in me of a poem I memorized as a child, "Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too" by Shel Silverstein. That was a bit lengthy but once I was there, fully in my childhood memory reciting the poem, I couldn't resist and I settled on "The Flying Shoe."  

That's all for now. Stay tuned as I have new naked yarns waiting to be dyed and a new yarn base to reveal. Hopefully I'll be experimenting with striping and gradients in the very near future. 

New Colors and a Public Venue!

Entwined on Bounce Sock

Busy, busy, busy. That's how my summer has been so far. Not that I'm complaining though; I feel like I've managed to accomplish some of what I set out to do and I feel like I have some direction in my life.

L - R: Miss Piggy, Life Aquatic,
Echo, and Swirling Vortex of Entropy

In between trips to South Carolina and Pennsylvania I've dyed up some new colorways and I am very pleased with my results. Some of the yarns pictured in the blog today are already loaded in my Etsy shop while others are waiting until after Art in the Park on August 2nd. 

Soiree L - R: Swirling Vortex of
Entropy, Echo, and Life Aquatic

In addition to new colorways I have also added a new yarn base, Soiree. Soiree is a singles construction fingering weight yarn that is a 70 / 30 blend of superwash merino and silk. Not only is Soiree incredibly soft with a gorgeous sheen; it takes up dye beautifully.

Back to getting ready for next weekend. If anyone is near Hastings, Nebraska on Sunday, August 2nd, I'll be at Art in the Park at Libs Park with my hand dyed yarns, some hand knit and hand woven items, and stitch markers.

Almost Summer

I can’t believe summer is almost upon me! There are so many things and changes going on it is hard to keep track of them all.

Chris & Joe napping in the office

News on the kitten front…they are nine weeks old already. We have re-homed three of them; I cried each time we gave one away. Thank goodness I don’t have children I can’t even fathom how I’d react when it came time for them to go off to college. Anyhow, we figured the other three, two male and one female, can live as outdoor cats at our house. I use the term"outdoor" fairly lightly as they know where the door is, the noise it makes when it opens, and how fast they need to move to make it inside. It probably sounds silly but everyday I’m amazed at how quickly they’ve grown and what they’re doing/getting into. One thing for sure is that they make me smile.

And speaking of smiling, I dyed the most gorgeous colorway two weeks ago; I call it Malice In Bloom and looking at it just makes me giddy. The colors spoke to me so much so that it piqued my other creative juices. I swear creativity goes dormant if you don’t exercise it; it’s just like anything else. I think after losing three family members in a relatively short period of time last fall and winter I just became numb. I feel like I’m starting to crawl out of that funk and I am excited to do things all over again. 

I'll be adding a couple of skeins of Malice in Bloom to my Etsy shop in the next few days but in the meantime, I'm off to see how it knits up. I'll keep you posted.

Updates!

I never thought I'd turn into one of those people who uses trite phrases like, "I don't know where the time goes," but here I am firmly residing in that world.

Happy 3 Week Birthday!

What I do know is that the kittens that entered my world 3+ weeks ago are growing. There are six of them and they're officially on the move. We are going to have to come up with a way to keep them corralled so they don't wander off and get lost or meet a fate worse than being lost. I also want to contact one of the local shelters to see if they would take them in to adopt out to suitable people. 

I know you are but what am I?

With tax season completely in my rear view mirror for the year I hope to find some more time to dye. I have a few ideas kicking around in my head. I did manage to find a couple of hours to experiment last week and came up with this beauty. After a long grey winter I needed a pick me up and this fits the bill. I call it "I know you are but what am I?"

My first pooled scarf attempt ~ I love it!

For my birthday this year my husband got me a 15" Cricket Loom...he was nudged. :) So in addition to knitting I am trying my hand at weaving. My first attempt at weaving was with the yarn that was packaged with the loom. While the yarn was just fine my weaving was not. The sample, test run, whatever you want to call it is currently residing in one of the cat beds as a chew toy. I learned a lot from it but hope it never sees the light of day. I think weaving is going to be a great way to use some of my stash yarn. Expect to see some weaving projects from me this spring and summer.

How does one start to resurrect a blog? I suppose posting to it helps so here goes nothing after a year and a half.

Fuzz - action cat - hunting the
ever elusive garden flamingo
prior to domestication.

I’m still knitting and dying yarn albeit not as much as I’d like. I really came to stand still with Hansen Hand Dyes in the fall when my father passed away. I really haven’t felt particularly creative since then. Of course, with spring comes rebirth and new life.

My husband and I came to care for some feral cats in the neighborhood over the winter. In fact, we took in the only surviving kitten from a summer litter. She’s kept us busy and is turning in to a lovely indoor cat.  

36 hour old kitties!

Fuzz's mother was pregnant over these past couple of months and just gave birth 36 hours ago! I’ve counted six kittens for sure, possibly seven, though it is hard to tell as they move about as a big squirming pile of cute fuzziness at this point. It’s our hope to take them to a shelter for adoption when they are ready. We'd also like to capture the mama cat and have her spayed in an effort to help control the feral population.

Frog Hollow Rodeo - Bounce Sport

In addition to new kitty life I spent a little time in the yarn cave this weekend and breathed some new life into Hansen Hand Dyes. I dyed a couple of sport weight skeins in the colorway Frog Hollow Rodeo; this is one of my favorites that I dye. I love the varied bright shades of green. One of these days maybe I'll actually knit with it!

Wrong Turn - Bounce Sock

I was all set to dye a new colorway and had it all planned out when I added the wrong dye solution to the dye pot. I cursed a bit and then decided just to go with it and voila, I call it Wrong Turn. Sometimes wrong turns provide the most delightful surprises.

Here’s to a future filled with amazement and wonder from making wrong turns.

Chalk it up to experience

Busy, busy, busy and now it's October!

So I started off with good intentions when I began this blog and here I am three months later clearly residing in the slacker department. Slacking with good reason though.

Neptune's Jewel

This month Hansen Hand Dyes (aka Me) is sponsoring the monthly KaL in the Solid Socks group on Ravelry. Every month Solid Socks has a specific color or theme in which socks must be knit to qualify for prizes. I was able to choose which color I wanted to sponsor and I decided to do blue. I've never been a blue person so I wanted to challenge myself in my dyeing. It has been a great learning experience for me and I am coming away with a new appreciation for the color. I'm particularly fond of darker blues with green overtones.

Thanks to the Solid Socks group I've been busier than a one armed wallpaper hanger. Their support has been overwhelming and I'm very thankful for that.

First one there!

In addition to dyeing up a storm for Solid Socks I participated in my first ever craft show as a vendor. It was a fall festival with kids activities, food, hayrack rides, etc. Honestly I wasn't expecting much so I knit up some pair of fingerless mitts and put out some hand knit socks I hadn't gifted or worn to feel out the water. Well, the water won't handle $50 socks but I did sell four pairs of fingerless mitts and one skein of yarn. I know that this wasn't the best place to showcase my wares but I've got a little experience under my belt which was well worth the price of admission.


And since my last post we have adopted a new cat. I couldn't not have a furball around the house. This is Mellie. We got her from the Humane Society where she had been adopted out twice and returned twice; a very sad situation for a seven year old cat who lost her original human. We're pleased to have her be a part of our family.

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The Longest Week

Last week was possibly the longest and most emotionally stressful week I've ever had. My husband and I lost our 17 year old Maine Coon Thomas. He had been winding down all week. Usually a very social cat, he withdrew a little and lost interest in eating. We decided to let him expire in peace at home in the comfort of his own surroundings. That all changed on Thursday afternoon when his condition deteriorated rapidly. I suspect he only had a few hours left but we couldn't let his last hours be uncomfortable or painful so we took him to the vet to be euthanized. We stayed with him while the injection was administered and petted him and talked to him until he left us. That was really hard to watch but I hope it provided comfort to Thomas in his last moments in an unfamiliar place. We brought him home and buried him in the back yard. My husband made a beautiful memorial garden of his burial site.
I've had pets all my life and Thomas was hands down the most remarkable, superb pet I've ever had. He was everywhere I was; he followed me around like puppy. I even set up a chair next to me for him in my office so he could "work" with me. He'd come get me some mornings before I was ready to work. Crazy cat! He is greatly missed and while I suspect the pain will subside over time my memories of him will never fade. I hear his voice in the corners of my house and see him everywhere I look.

In memory of Thomas I present my new colorway...Ghost Meow.